Cost-of-Living Adjustments and Federal Benefits

2013-03-11T22:34:53-04:00https://images.c-span.org/Files/3c8/20130311103145001_hd.jpgPanelists talked about the implications of a proposed reform to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security and other federal benefits. The change involves tying COLAs to a chained consumer price index (CPI) rather than the CPI. Chained CPI factors in consumer reaction to rising prices when calculating the CPI. Topics included the groups that would be affected by the change and the potential impacts. All of the panelists said that chained CPI does not accurately account for the spending habits of the poor and elderly.

Panelists talked about the implications of a proposed reform to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security and other federal…
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Cost-of-Living Adjustments and Federal Benefits
Panelists talked about the implications of a proposed reform to cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for Social Security and other federal benefits. The change involves tying COLAs to a chained consumer price index (CPI) rather than the CPI. Chained CPI factors in consumer reaction to rising prices when calculating the CPI. Topics included the groups that would be affected by the change and the potential impacts. All of the panelists said that chained CPI does not accurately account for the spending habits of the poor and elderly. close

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*This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.

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Dean BakerCo-Founder and Co-DirectorCenter for Economic and Policy Research